DNA Edit: Accountability should extend beyond docs

An unmitigated tragedy has occurred in UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s constituency. 63 children have died in the last five days due to the unpardonable failure of the state and the hospital administration to provide oxygen to the poor children convalescing in the hospital, many of them new-borns. The episode is becoming murkier by the day.

Now, new reports are emerging which belittle the stature of Dr Kafeel Ahmed Khan, a paediatrician and head of the encephalitis ward at Baba Raghav Das Medical College who until very recently was being hailed as a saviour who saved the lives of many children in the hospital. A raft of new allegations are being levelled against him, which essentially contend that he was running an illegal practice and that the nursing home from which he procured the oxygen cylinders belonged to him. If this is true, Dr Khan could be Mr Hyde, which the media, in its breakneck rush to write stories, misconstrued as Dr Jekyll. Incidentally, Dr Khan has been sacked from his position and one Dr Bhupendra Sharma has replaced him. This is a developing story, and surely more bones would fall out from the closet.

However, there are some facts that are beyond dispute: The state of health in UP, and essentially Gorakhpur district, is marred for want of funds in its public hospitals. Gradually over the last two decades, India’s expenditure on its health care services has fallen. The allocation by the Centre towards healthcare services is barely 1 per cent of the GDP. So is the case with states, and more so with Uttar Pradesh. For FY 2018, a total of Rs 17,181 crore has been allocated to medical and public health, which is barely 1.19 per cent of its total Gross State Domestic Product. Even this amount fails to reach the patient at the bottom rung as institutional corruption and systemic apathy eats away at money allocated for the purpose of public health.

Meanwhile, the principal of the hospital cum college has put in his resignation and claimed moral responsibility for the death of the children. A noble gesture this, but nobody, least of all the government, is gullible enough to be taken in by these theatrics. UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s decision of setting up a probe panel led by the UP Chief Secretary is welcome. What’s more, the CM has also asked the district judicial magistrate to furnish a report on the tragedy. One hopes that at least the truth will not be a casualty in this episode and that whoever is found guilty or negligent in this investigation is held responsible and visited upon by the severest of punishments.